BJP won elections through malpractice, not merit: Congress

Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan on Thursday attributed BJP's success in the civic bodies and zilla parishads elections to its "malpractice rather than merit".

"BJP won these elections by misusing power and money. The win is more of a result of their malpractice than merit," Chavan told reporters.

Replying to questions on the loss in Mumbai, Chavan said it was not right to blame party's city unit chief Sanjay Nirupam alone. "It's a team work. It's the team than wins or loses," he said.

In the all-important Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, the Congress was relegated to the third position with 31 seats. Shiv Sena secured the first position by winning 84 seats, followed by BJP with 82 seats.

Vice president of Congress' Maharashtra unit, Ratnakar Mahajan said, "The results are mixed with the party doing well in Zilla Parishads while suffering reverses in the municipal corporations. It is definitely a setback."

He said the results have been unexpected and need to be analysed at the organisational level.

"Whether there has been a disconnect between voters and the party leaders should be seen," he said.

The party lost power in Amravati, Solapur civic bodies as well as Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, where it shared power with NCP.